1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, control method, and computer-readable medium. Particularly, the present invention relates to a technique when an image forming apparatus controls printing of data stored in a print server.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been proposed a so-called “pull print” printing system capable of outputting print data from a printing apparatus in response to a print request from a user to the printing apparatus for print data temporarily stored in a server (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4033857). This printing system allows the user to output print data not to a specific printing apparatus but from a printing apparatus of his choice in accordance with a print request in printing from an application.
Conventionally, it is difficult to instruct a change of print settings when the user issues a print request to a printing apparatus for print data temporarily stored in a server. This is because the format of print data temporarily stored in the server is PDL (Page Description Language) dependent on a printing apparatus. It is therefore conceivable to convert print data to be temporarily stored in the server into data of an intermediate format independent of a printing apparatus (device) so as to facilitate a change of print settings and the like. In this case, a pull print system is conceivable, in which, when the user changes settings from a printing apparatus and issues a print request, print data is generated using a printer driver corresponding to the printing apparatus on a server, and finally printed out.
Generally, when printing one document from an application, a printer driver generates one PDL job. However, some printer drivers generate a plurality of PDL jobs depending on print settings. For example, when printing a document of 20 pages by a device in which the number of sheets that can be stapled by a finisher is 10, the printer driver generates two PDL jobs for the first to 10th pages and the 11th to 20th pages.
If this printer driver is applied to the server of the pull print system, the number of PDL jobs to be generated from one print data of the intermediate format cannot be grasped in advance. When print cancel processing is performed after the start of transmitting PDL jobs to the printing apparatus upon a print instruction, all PDL jobs to be canceled may not be discriminated. Also, it is very difficult to derive from conditions the number of PDL jobs to be actually generated because it is determined by a plurality of factors such as a document to be printed, print settings, and the specifications of a printer driver and device.